Letter from President Leath

(Sent to Iowa State students, faculty and staff on March 21, 2014)

TO: Iowa State Faculty, Staff and Students:

As you may have heard, Iowa’s three public universities are embarking on a comprehensive review of administrative and academic operations in order to maximize resources, improve efficiencies and contain rising costs.

Across the Regents system, this effort is being called Rising to the Next TIER, to underscore our commitment to Transparency and Inclusiveness in the Efficiency Review. We understand our faculty, staff and students are critical to the success of this initiative; therefore I encourage you to share your ideas and opinions throughout this process.

The savings achieved through this effort will be reinvested into programs on campus that strengthen our teaching, research, and service missions; and therefore ensure that we continue to provide high-quality public education that is affordable to our students and their families.

The first phase of this comprehensive review will be conducted over the next few months. It will consist of an examination of all aspects of the three public universities -- including their business functions, programs and facilities. Everything is on the table, and all ideas and questions are welcome.

We want to engage and involve as many people as possible in this review. To that end, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 1, we will host a public forum about this process in the Howe Hall auditorium. In addition, in the weeks and months to follow, we will conduct numerous interviews with key stakeholders as part of this review. We will also be accepting your suggestions for program, policy and process improvements online at: suggestions@iastate.edu.

Iowa State University is a strong, efficient institution, but we are confident this review will help us become even better. As prudent stewards of public dollars, we have a responsibility to operate as efficiently as possible and subsequently ensure that our university thrives long into the future.